It must be something I 8

Ok, it's official. I am not doing another tag for at least three months. Or 8. So there.

Meanwhile, I suppose I may as well get this one out of the way (who comes up with these things anyway?):

1. 8 things I am passionate about

a) Poetry (surprise!)
b) Beethoven, Mozart, Bach
c) Miles
d) Films with subtitles
e) Dark Chocolate
f) Procrastination
g) Being right
h) Air-piano

2. 8 things I want to do before I die

a) Finish my dissertation (it may take that long)
b) Read Proust
c) Conduct the Berlin Philharmonic (what? No one said I had to be realistic)
d) Win an argument on the Internet (see above)
e) Clean the fridge (I don't really want to do it, but figure I should, at least once)
f) Develop a new flavor of Ice-cream (How does Single Malt Dark Chocolate Espresso sound to you)
g) Stop putting off things I want to do
h) Commit suicide (this list is in no particular order)

3. 8 Things I say often

a) "Three things"
b) "And now for something completely different"
c) "Hello"
d) "Goodbye"
e) "What was it Eliot said?"
f) "My dissertation?...uh...well, you see, I haven't really decided yet..."
g) "Go ahead. Make my day" (I don't really say this often. But I'd like to)
h) "Not another tag!"

Bonus: Things I'd like to say often

4. 8 Books I've read recently

(You can actually see this from the Shelfari list on the side - but let's see which ones I remember)

a) Susan Sontag, At the Same Time (currently reading)
b) J.M. Coetzee, Diary of a Bad Year (currently reading)
c) Paul Celan, Selected Poems trans. by Michael Hamburger (currently reading)
d) William T. Vollmann, The Atlas
e) Nicanor Parra, Emergency Poems & Poems and Antipoems
f) Rae Armantrout, Veil: New and Selected Poems
g) Ursula K. Le Guin, Searoad
h) Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

5. 8 songs I could listen to over and over

a) Franz Schubert, Winterreise (okay, okay, so that's 24 songs right there, but you can't seriously expect me to pick between them)
b) J.S. Bach, Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott (from Matthaus Passion BWV 244)
c) Georges Bizet, Habanera (from Carmen; see also)
d) Joni Mitchell, River
e) Bob Dylan, Desolation Row
f) Ella Fitzgerald, How High The Moon / Mack the Knife
g) Begum Akhtar, Mere Humnafas mere humnawa
h) Tom Lehrer, Masochism Tango (talk about passionate)

6. 8 Things that attract me to my best friends

a) A well-stocked bar (also, apartments in Manhattan and / or a penchant for driving rental cars to distant National Parks)
b) A disdain for all things popular
c) Comic book collections
d) A complete absence of spouses, children and other such domestic inconveniences
e) A well-stocked bar
f) A taste for bad puns
g) Willingness to be seen with me in public
h) A well-stocked bar

7. 8 people I think should do this tag

a) Raul Castro: "8 things I want to do before I die. Hmmm. Fido, what do I want to do before I die?" ("Oh, never mind, too late.")

b) Barack Obama "8 things I'm passionate about: Change, change, change, change, change, change, change and...ummm...maybe change?" (Hillary: "Did you hear that sixth change? Didn't it sound exactly like the fifth one? He's plagiarizing himself again.")

c) Snow White "8 things I'm passionate about: The Prince, Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful, Sleepy and Dopey"("Yes, sometimes all in one night")

d) George W. Bush "8...errr...8...Uncle Dick, what's a b-o-o-k?" ("Uncle Dick, Uncle Dick, I got up to five. Can you tell me what comes next? I've got a book in my other hand.")

e) Quentin Tarantino "8 things I say often: ****, ****, ****, *******, ******, ******-******, ******-******, ******-******* *******" ("It's a tough job, you know, writing your own scripts")

f) The Spanish Inquisition "8 things that attract me to my best friends: Surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the pope, nice red uniforms, comfy chairs, soft cushions, diabolical laughter and The Rack! The 9 things that attract me..." (You weren't expecting that were you? well....)

g) Nipper: "I'll listen to anything! Any 8 songs, I tell you! Anything but that damn voice!" ("Oh, come on, not 'How Much is that Doggy in the Window'!!")

h) Elizabeth Barret Browning: "8 ways I love thee" ("a) The depth my soul can reach b) The breadth....")